Premier Li Qiang recently signed an order promulgating the Regulations on Human Organ Donation and Transplantation (hereinafter referred to as the "Regulations"), which will come into force on May 1, 2024.
After passing away, donate your cornea to spread light to those in need", similar warm news, I believe many people have heard of it. In the past ten years, with the progress of clinical medicine and the improvement of relevant laws and regulations, especially the implementation of the Regulations on Human Organ Transplantation in May 2007, China's human organ donation and transplantation has made great progress. However, at the same time, we are also facing some new situations and new situations, which require new responses at the legal and institutional levels.
In particular, since 2015, China has completely stopped the judicial channel as a transplant donor**, officially confirming that voluntary donation by citizens has become the only legal channel. In this context, how to better ensure the fairness and justice of the regulation and distribution of organ donation has become an increasingly important issueIn addition, with the increasing demand for organ transplantation, it is also becoming more and more urgent to accelerate the narrowing of the contradiction between supply and demand for organ donation and transplantation.
Compared with the Regulations on Human Organ Transplantation, the word "donation" has been added to the name of the Regulations, which highlights the importance of organ donation. Many contents in the "Regulations" require strengthening the praise and guidance of organ donation, strengthening publicity, and organizing and carrying out commemorative activities for the remembrance of deceased organ donors;It is closely related to the stipulation that if the patient's spouse, direct blood relatives and other relatives have donated deceased organs, they will be prioritized under the same conditions when applying for organ transplantation.
Without organ donation, there is no organ transplant. According to an authoritative report, there were 5,628 cases of organ donation after the death of Chinese citizens last year, an increase of 6 percent from 202175%。Chinese human organ donation has been ranked second in the world and first in Asia for many years. However, at the same time, the organ donation rate (PMP) per million people is still less than 4%, and about 300,000 patients with end-stage organ failure are waiting for organ transplantation in China every year, while only about 20,000 "lucky people" can get transplant opportunities.
Therefore, strengthening the publicity, education and knowledge popularization of organ donation, so that more people can understand and participate in organ donation after death, may be able to save more lives. The "Regulations" accurately echo this.
In order for organ donation to win more social recognition and participation, it is important to ensure the fairness and impartiality of organ procurement and distribution. In addition to reiterating that organ donation should follow the principle of voluntary and free compensation, and that human organs shall not be bought or sold in any form, the Regulations also refine the requirements for ethical review before organ procurement, stipulating that the acquisition of deceased organs shall be witnessed by more than two organ donation coordinatorsIt is clarified that the distribution of deceased organs shall follow the principles of fairness, impartiality, and openness, and be uniformly distributed through the distribution system established by the National Health Commission.
Organ donation, distribution and transplantation must be regulated, and there is no room for black-box operations and gray spaces. The revised Regulations make it clear that "the National Health Commission regularly publishes the donation and distribution of deceased organs and accepts social supervision", which is a landmark step in improving the transparency of organ transplantation and distribution. In addition, the punishment and accountability for illegal organ trafficking have been increased, and the "Regulations" have also made further provisions.
Human organ donation and transplantation are acts of great love and kindness in the world. Ensuring its standardization and rule of law is not only related to people's lives and health, bioethics and social fairness, but also an important indicator of the degree of social civilization of a country. The promulgation and implementation of the Regulations will accelerate the process of standardizing and legalizing human organ donation and transplantation in Chinese, and better benefit the whole society.
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